The Delta launch vehicle was America's longest-lived, most reliable, and lowest-cost space launch vehicle. Development began in 1955 and it continued in service in the 21st Century despite numerous candidate replacements.

Delta began as Thor, a crash December 1955 program to produce an intermediate range ballistic missile using existing components, which flew thirteen months after go-ahead. Fifteen months after that, a space launch version flew, using an existing upper stage. The addition of solid rocket boosters allowed the Thor core and Able/Delta upper stages to be stretched. Costs were kept down by using first and second-stage rocket engines surplus to the Apollo program in the 1970's. Continuous introduction of new 'existing' technology over the years resulted in an incredible evolution - the payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit increasing from 68 kg in 1962 to 3810 kg by 2002. Delta survived innumerable attempts to kill the program and replace it with 'more rationale' alternatives. By 2008 nearly 1,000 boosters had flown over a fifty-year career, and cancellation was again announced.

The Delta space launch family had its roots in the Thor IRBM. Thor was a 2400 km range missile with essentially the same characteristics as the Army's Jupiter. It was developed by Douglas Aircraft in one of the most accelerated crash programs in history. 'Chief Designer' of the Thor was Jack Bromberg. He was not educated formally as an engineer, but was smart and dynamic. Company owner Donald Douglas had hired him back in the 1930's. He was a major influence in Douglas' winning response to the USAF request for proposal, which emanated from USAF Missile Czar General Bernard Schriever.

The Air Force requirement was to build an IRBM around a discarded rocket motor design. The engine had been developed as the sustainer engine for the Atlas missile when the requirement was to launch a 2700 kg thermonuclear warhead over an intercontinental range. When it became apparent that the warhead could be reduced to less than half that weight, the Atlas was downsized, and the 68 tonne thrust sustainer motor was no longer required.

Douglas flew a first prototype only thirteen months after go-ahead. Sixty Thors were deployed to missile sites in Great Britain under Project Emily. After a few years the Thors were withdrawn from Britain (and the Jupiters from Turkey) as part of the secret codicil of Kennedy's deal to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. A few continued in an offensive military role as a nuclear-tipped anti-satellite system, based on Johnson Atoll in the Pacific, until the end of the early 1970's. Surplus Thors were used for a variety of suborbital re-entry vehicle tests.

After the Sputnik shock, all available assets were pressed into service. Thor was developed into a workhorse for the space program. The Able stage developed for the Vanguard project was mated to the Thor. A fundamental problem was that the thrust to weight ratio of the basic vehicle left little margin for growth or larger upper stages. This was solved by using Castor solid rockets strapped to the base of the vehicle to increase the lift-off thrust. Almost by accident rather than design, Thor developed into the Delta, the standard American medium-lift launcher, continually evolving through the use of more and larger strap-on boosters, a cylindrical and stretched core, and enlarged upper stages. The original Aerojet Able upper stage evolved into the Delta. From 1959-1972 the US Air Force and NASA flew versions of the launch vehicle using the same core and solid booster technology, but with the Agena upper stage rather than the Delta. After going through a bewildering myriad of military versions it emerged as the standardized, reliable and economical Delta commercial satellite launch vehicle by the mid-1970's. Improved Delta versions continued in production into the next millennium, with nearly 1,000 airframes completed, and the end of production announced yet again in 2008.

The innumerable 'deaths' and resurrections of the Delta are described in Aerojet - The Creative Company, 1995:

Using NASA terminology, their first Delta launch vehicle was basically an Air Force Able consisting of a Thor first stage, an Able second stage, and a solid propellant third stage of nominally 2760 lbf thrust produced by Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory (ABL). These vehicles and their powerplants are discussed above as part of the Able family. The first NASA contracts for these upper stages were in 1959, deliveries began in 1961, and numerous additional contracts followed. Also in 1961, NASA shifted to the Ablestar configuration. The first launch using this configuration occurred on May 13, 1960 and, according to one source on NASA history, did not reach orbit because of a malfunction in the Aerojet stage. Aerojet's findings indicate that it never got the signal to fire. The second attempt on August 12, 1960 was successful, and these engines were used until years later when the more powerful Air Force Delta second stage ablative engines became available.

At this point the Air Force, realizing the need for a larger space launch capability separate from the civilian efforts, selected the concept of using both stages of Titan II with various third and fourth stages, and later an array of zero stages. In very general terms, they retained the Agena for Thor and Atlas upper stages, and sought a new larger and simpler third stage, which was called Transtage. Agena was, however, regularly used on both Thor and Titan lower stages, and was often favored because it was a pump fed unit and was much lighter. The desirability of low chamber pressure, ablative chambers and a pressurized propellant feed system had been demonstrated in Vanguard, Hydra, and Ablestar, which led to the selection (for Titan) of the Transtage configuration using two chambers similar to, but larger than Ablestar. A variation of this became known as the Improved Delta stage, and was used extensively on Thor -so much so that the vehicle became known as Thor/Delta, and in some cases, only as Delta, or later as Thrust Augmented Delta, Long Tank Delta, Delta - PAM, and similar versions.

The resulting (improved) Delta launch vehicle underwent a bewildering succession of changes in configuration and performance (some incremental and some extensive) which is continuing to this day. All three stages have undergone upratings and replacements with more powerful engines, and there has been a succession of increasing numbers and sizes of strap-on solid propellant rocket zero stages. Aerojet's original ablative Delta engine had a radiation cooled nozzle exit section, burned N2O4/Aerozine-50 and produced a vacuum thrust of 9000 lbf. This unit also underwent several modifications, ending up with a thrust of 10,200 lbf, and a variety of tank sizes. A throttling (variable thrust) version was developed for a Navy application, and the Delta family could be generally distinguished from Transtage engines by the fact that the Delta gimbal point was at the head end (above the valve assembly), while the Transtage engines (in addition to being smaller) gimballed at the plane of the nozzle throat.

In the early 1970s the expendable launch business was going quite well technically, but changes to reduce cost and increase payload were examined continuously. A series of Delta Alternative Studies was made, some being funded by NASA, but mostly in-house. One such study by Aerojet explored the concept of using a single barrel of the LR-87 engine. This would be used to improve Delta performance, but sufficient development funds were not available and the shuttle was receiving all the emphasis, so the idea died.
Another of these studies involved the use of liquid boosters in place of the nine solid boosters then attached to the Thor as a zero stage. The concept was to use either storable or LOX/RP-1 single LR-87 thrust chambers, pressure fed from filament wound tanks. The tanks would use thin metal liners to ensure freedom from leakage - as is still required today for high pressure, light weight filament wound vessels. Aerojet's solid rocket division had done some very encouraging work on high performance solid rocket engine chambers of this same type, and the prices were very attractive. The Aerojet team: Wally Dinsmore, Bob Frew, Lynn Meland. Howard Williams, and Chris Harlambakis from our Los Angeles office had many meetings and technical discussions at Huntington Beach. Two were memorable. The first was in October 1987 when their hosts kept slipping out of the meeting to check their stocks - this was the day the stock market fell drastically. No decisions were made that day. The second meeting almost didn't start. When the Aerojet contingent arrived, there was no one in the building because of an earthquake. The meeting finally got going, and just as Wally was to give his punch line cost and schedule estimate, the building shook with a severe aftershock and plaster dust fell from the ceiling. There were no decisions made that day either. This concept, like the others, couldn't get over the hurdle of the initial development cost - and probably the image of starting up a major new booster program.

Some additional insights into the early part of NASA's long succession of changes are provided by Dan Dembrow, who worked for NASA on the Delta Program at Goddard Space Flight Center:

The Delta launch vehicle was always viewed as an interim launch vehicle in NASA's stable, and was used to retain an intermediate size orbital payload capability until larger launch vehicles were developed. The Delta Project Manager at NASA, Bill Schindler, had a knack for keeping the program alive. He would participate in the launch vehicle assignment process, and when he found that Headquarters was about to kill the Delta on the grounds that a new mission exceeded its capabilities, he would assure them that Delta could do the job. Then he would challenge his technical staff, and often with the aid of the prime contractor, McDonnell Douglas, and our Goddard technical staff, to figure out a way to extend the flight envelope. This process occurred many times, and it was extremely difficult as production launch vehicles are not meant to undergo such constant changes in design. Delta payloads grew from about 200 lbm in low earth orbit in 1960 to about 4100 lbm in geosynchronous orbit by 1990.

In the 1960s, Goddard contracted directly for many of the components (including the second stage from Aerojet), and supplied them to McDonnell Douglas as government furnished equipment (GFE). During this period, Schindler oversold what Delta could do, and each successive payload had us in a quandary. Aerojet was always ready to test changes that would increase the second stage total impulse, and did so frequently. In one such case, a special test was required, and Aerojet went to a lot of trouble to upgrade the test stand for display to NASA management. Among the improvements was a new fail-safe system, and they even went to the point of repainting the bay. At the scheduled date the NASA managers had a schedule conflict, so I was the only NASA observer.

The test took place as scheduled, the instrumentation performed flawlessly, the test values were all nominal, and suddenly the test ended unexpectedly in mid-duration. Nothing within the control room showed anything wrong. When we went out into the test bay, the newly painted walls were on fire. The heat from the fire must have damaged some wiring in the fail-safe system, which promptly terminated the firing.

Aerojet did not realize the critical nature of the test, and this failure almost inadvertently killed the Delta program. Fortunately I was the only NASA observer, and a re-test was successfully conducted within a few days, so Schindler by that time was able to persuade NASA management that all was well. The critical decision was made to fly the mission on Delta.

The customary tug-of-war between the overall vehicle contractor and component system supplier over who should supply how much of the product, began as might be expected. As long as the project remained in Azusa, we had been able to keep the costs below anything Douglas could match. However, at the time when it was to be moved to Sacramento, management required the use of the "new" Commitment Proposal Estimating System which resulted in higher estimated costs. Also, the Douglas Huntington Beach plant was extremely low on work. As a final touch, Aerojet solved the problem by arrogantly sticking to the much higher price to our customer (Douglas). They promptly responded by replacing our system with a similar unit from TRW (surplus LM units) that unfortunately had slightly lower performance. Most of the production for NASA in that time period continued with this TRW engine. Douglas also had kept wearing away Aerojet's share of the project so that we went from supplying the complete stage to the present status of supplying only the thrust chamber assembly and propellant feed lines.

After a painful hiatus, we began work in 1975 on a complete "Fat Delta" stage for the Japanese N-II launch vehicle. At this point we received Air Force funding for performance improvement, one element of which was called the Delta I.T.I.P. (Improved Transtage Injector Program), and used an improved curved face, baffled injector. A still higher performance unit was developed, using a flat faced, baffled injector, and these were used in a two barrel configuration for a classified program. Their excellent performance made this chamber configuration popular, and was the basis for a long but relatively modest rate.

The Delta 3 introduced a new cryogenic upper stage in 1998. However the vehicle began tests just as the satellite market collapsed. It was flown only three times, two of the launches being failures. Meanwhile the most numerous and successful version, the Delta 7000 series, continued in service. The completely new-design Delta 4 was supposed to replace it in service, but the Delta 7000 remained not only lower cost but the most reliable launch vehicle produced in the United States. Nevertheless, in 2008, it was announced that production would be terminated and the Delta 4 would replace it.

The configuration of Delta vehicles was encoded for forty years as follows:

Optional letter after fourth character: An 'H' here indicated a 'Heavy' configuration. For Delta II, this was use of 46 inch diameter GEM solid strap-on motors in place of the standard Castor motors. For Delta IV, it indicated use of two strap-on Common Booster Cores (CBC) to supplement the CBC on the core stage.

Dash number: Payload fairing. For Delta II, this indicates the diameter of the fairing in feet. For Delta III or Delta IV, it indicates the length of the fairing in meters.

Transit American navigation satellite. 46 launches, 1959.09.17 (Transit 1A) to 1988.08.25 (Transit O-31). The Transit Navigation System began development in 1958. More...

Midas American military early warning satellite. 18 launches, 1960.02.26 (Midas 1) to 1966.10.05 (Midas 12). Part of a then-secret USAF program known as WS-117L, the MIDAS (Missile Defense Alarm System) program began in November 1958. More...

Pioneer 5 American solar satellite. One launch, 1960.03.11. Pioneer 5 was designed to provide the first map of the interplanetary magnetic field. The vehicle functioned for a record 106 days, and communicated with Earth from a record distance of 36.2 million km. More...

TIROS American earth weather satellite. 12 launches, 1960.04.01 (Tiros 1) to 1966.02.28 (ESSA 2). TIROS spacecraft were the beginning of a long series of polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. More...

GRAB American military naval signals reconnaisance satellite. 9 launches, 1960.04.13 (Dummy subsatellite) to 1965.03.09 (Solrad 7B). GRAB, the first US electronic intelligence (ELINT) satellite, was not declassified until June 1998. More...

KH-2 American military surveillance satellite. 10 launches, 1960.10.26 (SRV 506) to 1961.08.04 (SRV 512). Early US reconnaissance satellite. Carried one 'C-Prime' panoramic camera, with a focal length of 61 cm and a ground resolution of 9 m. More...

KH-5 American military surveillance satellite. 16 launches, 1961.02.17 (Discoverer 20) to 1964.08.21 (KH-5 9066A). US mapping satellite. Carried one frame camera, with a focal length of 76 mm, and a ground resolution of 140 m. More...

Lofti American communications technology satellite. 2 launches, 1961.02.22 (Lofti) and 1963.06.15 (Lofti 2A). The Low Frequency Trans-Ionospheric (LOFTI) satellites were produced as a cooperative effort with the Radio Division. More...

KH-6 American military surveillance satellite. 3 launches, 1963.03.18 (KH-6 8001) to 1963.07.31 (KH 4A-07). US reconnaissance satellite, lashed together to meet an emergency requirement for close-up imaging of a suspected Soviet ICBM site near Tallinn. More...

Intelsat 1 American communications satellite. One launch, 1965.04.06. Intelsat 1, also called Early Bird, was the world's first commercial communications satellite. It provided the first scheduled transoceanic TV service and was operational for 3.5 years. More...

DME American earth ionosphere satellite. One launch, 1965.11.29, Explorer 31. Explorer 31, the Direct Measurement Explorer, was launched with a Canadian Alouette II on November 28, 1965, on a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. More...

Pioneer 6-7-8-9-E American solar satellite. 5 launches, 1965.12.16 (Pioneer 6) to 1969.08.27 (Pioneer E). Pioneers 6, 7, 8, and 9 were created to make the first detailed, comprehensive measurements of the solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays. More...

Biosatellite American biology satellite. 3 launches, 1966.12.14 (Biosatellite 1) to 1969.06.29 (Biosatellite 3). Biosatellite was a NASA spacecraft designed in the early 1960's to study the effects of the space environment on living organisms in missions. More...

ITOS American earth weather satellite. 8 launches, 1970.01.23 (ITOS 1) to 1976.07.29 (NOAA 5). ITOS was the follow-on to the TIROS series of polar-orbiting US weather satellites, and marked the beginning of the use of the NOAA designator. More...

SME American solar satellite. One launch, 1981.10.06. The Solar Mesosphere Explorer satellite was developed to investigate the processes that create and destroy ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere. More...

Wind American earth magnetosphere satellite. One launch, 1994.11.01. Wind was designed to provide continuous measurement of the solar wind, particularly charged particles and magnetic field data. More...

SURFSAT-1 American technology satellite. One launch, 1995.11.04, SURFSAT. SURFSAT-1 was a small satellite built by undergraduate college students and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to support experiments by NASA's Deep Space Network. More...

Radarsat Canadian earth resources radar satellite. Two launches, 1995.11.04 (Radarsat) and 2007.12.14 (Radarsat). Canada's Radarsat was a radar satellite featuring variable resolution, and different view angles at a number of preset positions. More...

NEAR American asteroid probe. One launch, 1996.02.17. NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) was the first spacecraft ever to orbit and then (improvisationally) land on an asteroid. More...

Polar American earth magnetosphere satellite. One launch, 1996.02.24. Polar was designed to measure the entry, energization, and transport of plasma into the magnetosphere as part of the International Solar Terrestrial Program (ISTP). More...

MSX American military strategic defense satellite. One launch, 1996.04.24. More...

Mars Global Surveyor American Mars orbiter. One launch, 1996.11.07. Mars Global Surveyor was a polar orbiting spacecraft designed to monitor Martian global weather and provide comprehensive maps of surface topography and the distribution of minerals. More...

LM 700 American communications satellite. 98 launches, 1997.05.05 (Iridium 8) to 2002.06.20 (Iridium SV98 ). The LM 700 had its first use in the Iridium system, a commercial communications network comprised of a minimum of 66 LEO spacecraft. More...

SEDSAT American technology satellite. One launch, 1998.10.24. The SEDSAT micro-satellite was built by the Huntsville, Alabama chapter of SEDS (the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space). More...

Deep Space 1 American asteroid probe. One launch, 1998.10.24. Deep Space 1 (DS1) was a primarily a technology demonstration probe powered by an ion engine, although the spacecraft also flew by asteroid and cometary targets. More...

MCO American Mars orbiter. One launch, 1998.12.11, Mars Climate Orbiter. The Mars Climate Orbiter was to have accomplished mapping and weather studies of Mars and served as a relay for data from the Mars Polar Lander. More...

Mars Polar Lander American Mars lander. One launch, 1999.01.03. The Mars Polar Lander had the mission of studying Martian volatiles (frozen water and carbon dioxide) and climate history. The Martian polar regions were the best places to conduct these studies. More...

Stardust American comet probe. One launch, 1999.02.07. Stardust was scheduled to encounter comet Wild-2 early in 2004 and collect samples of cometary dust and volatiles while flying through the coma at a distance of 100 km on the sunlit side of the nucleus. More...

Sunsat South African technology satellite. One launch, 1999.02.23. Sunsat was built by students at Stellenbosch University, South Africa and carried a small imager and a message relay payload. More...

EO-1 American earth land resources satellite. One launch, 2000.11.21. The Earth Orbiter 1 satellite was part of NASA's New Millennium Program. More...

Munin Swedish technology satellite. One launch, 2000.11.21. Small 6 kg Munin nanosatellite was built by Swedish students in collaboration with the Swedish Institute for Space Physics (IRF) and carried a particle detector, a spectrometer, and an auroral camera. More...

SAC-C Argentinan earth land resources satellite. One launch, 2000.11.21. The SAC-C Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas C was developed by the Argentine space agency CONAE and built by the Argentine company INVAP. More...

Mars Odyssey American Mars orbiter. One launch, 2001.04.07, 2001 Mars Odyssey. Mars Odyssey had the primary science mission of mapping the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface. More...

GeoLITE American military communications satellite. One launch, 2001.05.18, USA 158. GeoLITE was a TRW T-310 class satellite with a mass of about 1800 kg, including a solid apogee motor. More...

Genesis American solar satellite. One launch, 2001.08.08. Genesis was part of NASA's Discovery program. Its objective was to fly to the Earth-Sun L1 point and spend two years collecting samples of the solar wind. More...

QuickBird American civilian surveillance satellite. One launch, 2001.10.18. The QuickBird commercial imaging satellite was owned by DigitalGlobe (formerly EarthWatch) and used a Ball BCP2000 bus with a launch mass of 1028 kg and a dry mass of about 995 kg. More...

Jason French earth sea satellite. 2 launches, 2001.12.07 (Jason 1) and 2008.06.20 (Jason 2). Jason was a joint mission between CNES (the French space agency) and NASA/JPL, carrying the same type of sea surface altimeter used on NASA's Topex satellite. More...

Aqua American earth sea satellite. One launch, 2002.05.04. Aqua was also designated the EOS-PM Earth Observing System satellite, joining EOS-AM/Terra. The CERES and MODIS instruments aboard Aqua were also carried on the Terra satellite. More...

SIRTF American infrared astronomy satellite. One launch, 2003.08.25. The SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was planned as a 1 meter class, cryogenically cooled space telescope to be operated as an observatory for infrared astronomy. More...

Gravity Probe-B American earth geodetic satellite. One launch, 2004.04.20, Gravity Probe B. Gravity Probe B was an experiment developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. More...

Aura American earth atmosphere satellite. One launch, 2004.07.15. Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura was a NASA mission to study the Earth's ozone, air quality and climate. More...

Messenger American Mercury probe. One launch, 2004.08.03. NASA probe, launched in 2004 with the challenging mission of comprehensively mapping Mercury from orbit between March 2011 and March 2012. More...

Deep Impact American comet probe. One launch, 2005.01.12. Studied interior composition of Comet Tempel 1. The flyby spacecraft carried a smaller impactor which it released, allowing it to study the plume from the collision with the comet on 2005.07.04. More...

Dawn American asteroid probe. One launch, 2007.09.27. Asteroid belt unmanned probe designed to first orbit and survey the asteroid Vesta, and then fly on to the largest asteroid, Ceres. Orbit asteroids Ceres and Vesta. More...

Thor American liquid propellant intermediate range ballistic missile, developed by Douglas in 1956-1958. 60 deployed to Britain in 1958-1962. The basis for a family of Thor and Delta space launch vehicles, remaining in production into the 2010's. More...

Delta American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta launch vehicle was America's longest-lived, most reliable, and lowest-cost space launch vehicle. Delta began as Thor, a crash December 1955 program to produce an intermediate range ballistic missile using existing components, which flew thirteen months after go-ahead. Fifteen months after that, a space launch version flew, using an existing upper stage. The addition of solid rocket boosters allowed the Thor core and Able/Delta upper stages to be stretched. Costs were kept down by using first and second-stage rocket engines surplus to the Apollo program in the 1970's. Continuous introduction of new 'existing' technology over the years resulted in an incredible evolution - the payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit increasing from 68 kg in 1962 to 3810 kg by 2002. Delta survived innumerable attempts to kill the program and replace it with 'more rationale' alternatives. By 2008 nearly 1,000 boosters had flown over a fifty-year career, and cancellation was again announced. More...

Delta 5000 American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta 5000 series used the more powerful Castor 4A strap-ons but with the Extended Long Tank core with RS-27 engine. Only one was launched. More...

Delta 0100 American orbital launch vehicle. The military Thor-Delta vehicles were developed into the first of a series of commercial satellite launch vehicles. The Delta 0100 series featured Castor 2 solid propellant strap-ons and a Long Tank Thor core with MB-3 engine. More...

Delta 1000 American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta 1000 series used Castor 2 strap-ons and the Extended Long Tank core with MB-3 engine. More...

Delta 4000 American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta 4000 series used more powerful Castor 4A strap-ons, but the old Extended Long Tank core with MB-3 engine. Only two of these were launched. More...

Delta 3 American orbital launch vehicle. Delta 3 was an attempt by the manufacturer to provide the ultimate development of the original Delta booster. The core vehicle was beefed-up to accomodate much larger solid rocket boosters and a new cryogenic upper stage. However problems were incurred during development, resulting in the first two launches being failures. Meanwhile the satellite launch market crashed and the new vehicle was left without customers. The venerable Delta 7925 soldiered on for NASA, and the new Delta 4 series captured the USAF EELV requirement. More...

Delta 2000 American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta 2000 series used Castor 2 strap-ons together with an Extended Long Tank core equipped with the more powerful RS-27 engine. This engine was derived from surplus H-1 engines intended for the Saturn IB booster of the Apollo programme. The Delta P upper stage was built by Douglas and used surplus Apollo lunar module engines from TRW. More...

Delta 3000 American orbital launch vehicle. The Delta 3000 series upgraded the boosters to Castor 4 solid propellant strap-ons, while retaining the Extended Long Tank core with RS-27 engine. The 3910 series used the TRW Lunar Module engine in the second stage, while the 3920 series reintroduced the Aerojet AJ110 Delta engine. More...

Cape Canaveral America's largest launch center, used for all manned launches. Today only six of the 40 launch complexes built here remain in use. Located at or near Cape Canaveral are the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, used by NASA for Saturn V and Space Shuttle launches; Patrick AFB on Cape Canaveral itself, operated the US Department of Defense and handling most other launches; the commercial Spaceport Florida; the air-launched launch vehicle and missile Drop Zone off Mayport, Florida, located at 29.00 N 79.00 W, and an offshore submarine-launched ballistic missile launch area. All of these take advantage of the extensive down-range tracking facilities that once extended from the Cape, through the Caribbean, South Atlantic, and to South Africa and the Indian Ocean. More...

Vandenberg Vandenberg Air Force Base is located on the Central Coast of California about 240 km northwest of Los Angeles. It is used for launches of unmanned government and commercial satellites into polar orbit and intercontinental ballistic missile test launches toward the Kwajalein Atoll. More...

Johnston Island US military base on this island in the Pacific Ocean. Used for rocket-launched nuclear tests in the 1950's. In the 1960's it was the site for the operational AFP-437 anti-satellite system. The system was retired in 1975. Several sounding rockets were also launched over the years, either in support of nuclear tests or in experiments related to anti-satellite technology. Known to have been used for 124 launches from 1958 to 1975, reaching up to 1158 kilometers altitude. More...

Tanegashima Japan's main launch site for he larger N and H launch vehicles. In use for sounding rockets from 1967 and orbital launches from 1975. As of 2007 over 140 major launches had been made from the site. More...

Series I research and development launch - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). Summary: First attempted test flight of USAF Thor IRBM, only 13 months after first production contracts were signed, failed to launch..

Series I research and development launch - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). Douglas Thor IRBM (XSM-75) was launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla., destroyed by range safety officer. The missile was actually on course throughout its flight. The console wiring error led the range safety officer to believe it was headed inland rather than out to sea, so he hit the destruct button.

Discoverer 2 - .
Payload: KH-1 prototype / Agena A 1022. Mass: 743 kg (1,638 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: DARPA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1959-04-26 . USAF Sat Cat: 14 . COSPAR: 1959-Gamma-1. Apogee: 346 km (214 mi). Perigee: 239 km (148 mi). Inclination: 89.9000 deg. Period: 90.40 min. KH-1 prototype; tested capsule recovery techniques; did not carry camera; capsule recovery failed. Because of a timing error, the US believed that the capsule landed somewhere on the island of Spitsbergen, north of Norway, instead of landing in the recovery zone near Hawaii. The capsule was never found; and CIA officials suspect it may have been snatched by the Soviets. The search for this capsule formed the basis of the book and film 'Ice Station Zebra'.

In the winter of 1960/1961, a US Discovery spy satellite capsule was found by loggers near Kalinin, 200 km north of Moscow. The loggers cracked it open with an axe. Sergei Khrushchev believed this to be the Discoverer 2 capsule. What was left was examined by Soviet engineers but didn’t reveal much information - it was a polished aluminium sphere, 30 cm in diameter, gilded on the exterior. Some said it was found as early as the winter of 1959.

Transit 3B - .
Mass: 112 kg (246 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USN. Program: Transit. Class: Navigation. Type: Navigation satellite. Spacecraft: Transit. Decay Date: 1961-02-22 . USAF Sat Cat: 87 . COSPAR: 1961-Eta-1. Apogee: 225 km (139 mi). Perigee: 135 km (83 mi). Inclination: 28.4000 deg. Period: 88.10 min. Lofti 1 piggyback payload did not separate. Nevertheless Transit 3B returned useful data needed for design of the operational satellites. It carried a digital clock driven by the same oscillator that drove the transmitters. It transmitted timing signals governed by the clock and a 384-bit memory. This allowed testing of the techniques for loading the memory from the ground, the ability of the memory to hold a message in orbit, and the ability to encode the memory contents by means of a frequency modulation on one of the main transmitters. It was also shown that ±60° phase modulation could be used to transmit the contents of the satellite memory without degradation of the accuracy of the Doppler signal and Doppler measurements.

STARFISH PRIME Nuclear test - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 400 km (240 mi). Successful high-altitude test of a Thor IRBM with a live nuclear warhead. The payload included test instrumentation and a W-49 warhead/Mk-4 re-entry vehicle. The 1.45 megaton bomb exploded at an altitude of 400 km. The explosion was visible 2,600 km away, at Kwajalein Atoll; an artificial aurora lasted seven minutes. The unforeseen and most militarily significant effect was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by the test. This caused power mains surges in Oahu, knocking out street lights, blowing fuses and circuit breakers, and triggering burglar alarms (and this in the days before microelectronics). The explosion supercharged the Van Allen radiation belts, resulting in several satellites malfunctioning.

BLUEGILL PRIME Nuclear test - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). Second attempt to launch a nuclear weapon using the Thor IRBM. The payload consisted of two re-entry vehicles, one with an instrument pod, the other with the warhead. The missile engine malfunctioned immediately on ignition. Range safety fired the destruct system whille the missile was still on the launch pad. The Johnston Island launch complex was heavily damaged and contaminated with plutonium. Three months of repairs and decontamination were necessary before tests could resume.

BLUEGILL TRIPLE PRIME Nuclear test - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). On the fourth attempt, a Thor IRBM was used to launch a Mk 4 Re-entry Vehicle containing a 186 kg W-50 nuclear warhead of either 200 or 400 kilotons yield. The detonation occurred at an altitude of 50 km, 31 km SSW of Johnston Atoll. A fireball formed, the colourful afterglow continuing for 30 minutes of the explosion. At this altitude the extensive disruption of the ionosphere seen in later explosions did not occur.

KINGFISH Nuclear test - .
Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). A Thor IRBM was used to launch a Mk 4 Reentry Vehicle containing a 186 kg W-50 nuclear warhead of either 200 or 400 kilotons yield. The detonation occurred at an altitude of 98 km, 69 km SSW of Johnston Atoll, and resulted in dramatic aurora-like effects visible as far away as Hawaii. More notably, the explosion had a massive effect on the ionosphere which disrupted radio communications over the entire central Pacific for three hours.

Program 437 ASAT declared operational. - .
Nation: USA. Spacecraft: Program 437. Summary: The system had a two week reaction time - the missiles and nuclear warheads were stored in kits at Vandenberg and had to be deployed to the Johnson Atoll launch site..

Note: Designed, built, and tested, a predecssor, OSCAR* was never launched. Similar in design to OSCAR I and II, OSCAR* contained a 250 mW beacon with phase-coherent keying. OSCAR* was never launched as the workers decided to focus their efforts on the first relay satellite -- OSCAR III.

OGO 2 - .
Payload: OGO C (S-50). Mass: 507 kg (1,117 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: OGO. Decay Date: 1981-09-17 . USAF Sat Cat: 1620 . COSPAR: 1965-081A. Apogee: 1,515 km (941 mi). Perigee: 419 km (260 mi). Inclination: 87.4000 deg. Period: 104.40 min. OGO 2 was a large observatory instrumented with 20 experiments designed to make simultaneous, correlative observations of aurora and airglow emissions, energetic particles, magnetic field variations, ionospheric properties, etc., especially over the polar areas. Soon after achieving orbit, difficulties in maintaining earth lock with horizon scanners caused exhaustion of attitude control gas by October 23, 1965, 10 days after launch. At this time, the spacecraft entered a spin mode (about 0.11 rpm) with a large coning angle about the previously vertical axis. Five experiments became useless when the satellite went into this spin mode. Six additional experiments were degraded by this loss of attitude control. By April 1966, both batteries had failed, so subsequent observations were limited to sunlit portions of the orbit. By December 1966, only eight experiments were operational, five of which were not degraded by the spin mode operation. By April 1967, the tape recorders had malfunctioned and only one third of the recorded data could be processed. Spacecraft power and periods of operational scheduling conflicts created six large data gaps so that data were observed on a total of about 306 days of the 2-yr, 18-day total span of observed satellite data to November 1, 1967. The spacecraft was shut down on November 1, 1967, with eight experiments still operational. It was reactivated for 2 weeks in February 1968 to operate the rubidium vapor magnetometer experiment.

Explorer 29 - .
Payload: GEOS A. Mass: 175 kg (385 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Program: Explorer. Class: Astronomy. Type: Solar astronomy satellite. Spacecraft: GEOS. USAF Sat Cat: 1726 . COSPAR: 1965-089A. Apogee: 2,269 km (1,409 mi). Perigee: 1,120 km (690 mi). Inclination: 59.4000 deg. Period: 120.30 min. The primary objective of GEOS-A was to provide global geodetic measurements for determining the positions of fiducial control points on the Earth to an accuracy of 10 meters in an Earth centre of mass co-ordinate system, and to determine the structure of the Earth's gravity field to 5 parts in 10 million. Instrumentation included (1) four optical beacons, (2) laser reflectors, (3) a radio range transponder, (4) Doppler beacons, and (5) a range and range rate transponder. These were designed to operate simultaneously to fulfil the objectives of locating observation points (geodetic control stations) in a three dimensional earth centre-of-mass co-ordinate system within 10 m of accuracy, of defining the structure of the earth's irregular gravitational field and refining the locations and magnitudes of the large gravity anomalies, and of comparing results of the various systems onboard the spacecraft to determine the most accurate and reliable system. In January 1967, a failure in the satellite's command system rendered several geodetic systems inoperable. Radio doppler measurements and the passive laser reflector experiment could continue indefinitely, however. Additional Details: here....

Alouette 2 - .
Payload: Alouette 2 / Explorer 31. Mass: 145 kg (319 lb). Nation: Canada. Agency: DRTE. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: Alouette. USAF Sat Cat: 1804 . COSPAR: 1965-098A. Apogee: 2,666 km (1,656 mi). Perigee: 503 km (312 mi). Inclination: 79.8000 deg. Period: 117.90 min. Ionospheric research; data correlated with Explorer 31. The double-launch project, known as ISIS-X was the first in a new co-operative NASA-Canadian Defense Research Board program for International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies. Alouette was in orbit with an apogee just over a kilometre lower than Explorer 31's and with a perigee of just more than a kilometre higher. The orbits were some 3000 km at apogee and 500 km at perigee.

Explorer 31 - .
Payload: DME A. Mass: 99 kg (218 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Program: Explorer. Class: Earth. Type: Ionosphere satellite. Spacecraft: DME. USAF Sat Cat: 1806 . COSPAR: 1965-098B. Apogee: 2,833 km (1,760 mi). Perigee: 505 km (313 mi). Inclination: 79.8000 deg. Period: 119.70 min. Ionospheric research; data correlated with Alouette 2. The Explorer 31, Direct Measurement Explorer, was launched with a Canadian Alouette II on November 28, 1965, on a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The double-launch project, known as ISIS-X was the first in a new co-operative NASA-Canadian Defense Research Board program for International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies. Explorer 31 was in orbit with an apogee just over a kilometre more than Alouette's and with a perigee of just more than a kilometre lower. The orbits were some 3000 km at apogee and 500 km at perigee. Eight ionospheric measurement experiments sampled the environment both forward and after the satellite's path.

Explorer 35 - .
Payload: AIMP E. Mass: 104 kg (229 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Program: Explorer. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: IMP. USAF Sat Cat: 2884 . COSPAR: 1967-070A. Apogee: 675 km (419 mi). Perigee: 484 km (300 mi). Inclination: 32.4000 deg. Period: 96.26 min. Earth magnetic tail measurements. Lunar Orbit (Selenocentric). The Westinghouse Aerospace Division, under contract to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center, engaged in the system design, integration, assembly and launch support for Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform Satellite, officially designated Explorer 35 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was launched on July 19, 1967, with the primary objectives of investigation of interplanetary plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field out to and at the lunar distance, in either a captured lunar orbit or a geocentric orbit of the earth. In the geocentric orbit, the apogee was near or beyond the lunar distance. In a lunar orbit, additional objectives included obtaining data on dust distribution, lunar gravitational field, ionosphere, magnetic field, and radiation environment around the moon. AIMP-E also studied spatial and temporal relationships of geophysical and interplanetary phenomena simultaneously being studied by several other National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellites. The investigation in the vicinity of the moon provided for measurements of the characteristics of the interplanetary dust distribution, solar and galactic cosmic rays, as well as a study of the magnetohydrodynamic wake of the earth in the interplanetary medium at the lunar distances.

OGO 4 - .
Payload: OGO D (NASA S-50A). Mass: 634 kg (1,397 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: OGO. Decay Date: 1972-08-16 . USAF Sat Cat: 2895 . COSPAR: 1967-073A. Apogee: 885 km (549 mi). Perigee: 422 km (262 mi). Inclination: 86.0000 deg. Period: 97.80 min. OGO 4 was a large observatory instrumented with experiments designed to study the interrelationships between the aurora and airglow emissions, energetic particle activity, geomagnetic field variation, ionospheric ionization and recombination, and atmospheric heating which take place during a period of increased solar activity. After the spacecraft achieved orbit and the experiments were deployed into an operating mode, an attitude control problem occurred. This condition was corrected by ground control procedures until complete failure of the tape recording systems in mid-January 1969. At that time, due to the difficulty of maintaining attitude control without the tape recorders, the attitude control system was commanded off, and the spacecraft was placed into a spin-stabilized mode about the axis which was previously maintained vertically. In this mode, seven of the remaining experiments were turned off since no meaningful data could be observed by them. On October 23, 1969, the satellite was turned off. It was reactivated again in January 1970 for 2 months to obtain VLF observations.

Biosatellite 2 - .
Payload: Biosat 2. Mass: 507 kg (1,117 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Ames. Class: Biology. Type: Biology satellite. Spacecraft: Biosatellite. Decay Date: 1967-09-15 . USAF Sat Cat: 2935 . COSPAR: 1967-083A. Apogee: 318 km (197 mi). Perigee: 297 km (184 mi). Inclination: 33.5000 deg. Period: 90.70 min. Biological capsule recovered. The scientific payload, consisting of 13 select biology and radiation experiments, was exposed to microgravity during 45 hours of Earth-orbital flight. Experimental biology packages on the spacecraft contained a variety of specimens, including insects, frog eggs, microorganisms and plants. The planned three-day mission was recalled early because of the threat of a tropical storm in the recovery area, and because of a communication problem between the spacecraft and the tracking systems. The primary objective of the Biosatellite II mission was to determine if organisms were more, or less, sensitive to ionizing radiation in microgravity than on Earth. To study this question, an artificial source of radiation was supplied to a group of experiments mounted in the forward part of the spacecraft.

OGO 6 - .
Payload: OGO F. Mass: 634 kg (1,397 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: OGO. Decay Date: 1979-10-12 . USAF Sat Cat: 3986 . COSPAR: 1969-051A. Apogee: 1,089 km (676 mi). Perigee: 397 km (246 mi). Inclination: 82.0000 deg. Period: 99.70 min. OGO 6 was a large observatory instrumented with 26 experiments designed to study the various interrelationships between, and latitudinal distributions of, high-altitude atmospheric parameters during a period of increased solar activity. On June 22, 1969, the spacecraft potential dropped significantly during sunlight operation and remained so during subsequent sunlight operation. This unexplained shift affected seven experiments which made measurements dependent upon knowledge of the spacecraft plasma sheath. During October 1969, a string of solar cells failed, but the only effect of the decreased power was to cause two experiments to change their mode of operation. Also during October 1969, a combination of manual and automatic attitude control was initiated, which extended the control gas lifetime of the attitude control system. In August 1970, tape recorder (TR) no. 1 operation degraded, so all recorded data were subsequently taken with TR no. 2. By September 1970, power and equipment degradation left 14 experiments operating normally, 3 partially, and 9 off. From October 14, 1970, TR no. 2 was used only on Wednesdays (world days) to conserve power and extend TR operation. In June 1971, the number of 'on' experiments decreased from 13 to 7, and on June 28, 1971, the spacecraft was placed in a spin-stabilized mode about the yaw (Z) axis and turned off due to difficulties with spacecraft power. OGO 6 was turned on again from October 10, 1971, through March 1972, for operation of experiment 25 by The Radio Research Laboratory, Japan.

Biosatellite 3 - .
Payload: Biosat 3. Mass: 695 kg (1,532 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Ames. Class: Biology. Type: Biology satellite. Spacecraft: Biosatellite. Decay Date: 1970-01-20 . USAF Sat Cat: 4000 . COSPAR: 1969-056A. Apogee: 374 km (232 mi). Perigee: 363 km (225 mi). Inclination: 33.5000 deg. Period: 92.00 min. Biological capsule reentered 7/7/69. The intent had been to fly a 6 kg male pig-tailed monkey (Macaca nemestrina) named Bonnie in Earth-orbit for 30 days. However, after only 8.8 days in orbit, the mission was terminated because of the subject's deteriorating health. High development costs were a strong incentive for maximising the scientific return from the mission. Because of this, the scientific goals had become exceedingly ambitious over time, and a great many measurements were conducted on the single research subject flown. Although the mission was highly successful from a technical standpoint, the science results were apparently compromised. Additional Details: here....

SERT 2 - .
Mass: 1,404 kg (3,095 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Cleveland. Class: Technology. Type: Ion engine technology satellite. Spacecraft: SERT. USAF Sat Cat: 4327 . COSPAR: 1970-009A. Apogee: 1,046 km (649 mi). Perigee: 1,039 km (645 mi). Inclination: 99.2000 deg. Period: 106.00 min. Space Electric Rocket Test; the ion engines aboard were operated until 1981. The SERT 2 development program started in 1966 and included thruster ground tests of 6742 hours and 5169 hours duration. A prototype version of the SERT 2 spacecraft was ground-tested for a period of 2400 hours with an operating ion engine. In addition to diagnostic equipment and related ion engine hardware, the spacecraft had two identical 15 cm diameter, mercury ion engines. Flight objectives included in-space operation for a period of 6 months, measurement of thrust, and demonstration of electromagnetic compatibility. The thruster maximum power level was 0.85 kW, and this provided operation at a 28 mN thrust level at 4200 s specific impulse. Flight data were obtained from 1970 to 1981 with an ion engine operating intermittently in one of three different modes, namely, HV ion extraction, discharge chamber operation only, or just neutralizer operation. Major results were that two mercury engines thrusted for periods of 3781 hours and 2011 hours. Test duration was limited due to shorts in the ion optical system. Thrust measured in space and on the ground agreed within the measurement uncertainties. Up to 300 thruster restarts were demonstrated. One power-processing unit accumulated nearly 17,900 hours during the course of the mission. Additionally, the ion propulsion system was electromagnetically compatible with all other spacecraft systems.

KH-4B 1113 - .
Payload: KH-4B s/n 1113. Mass: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-4B. Decay Date: 1971-02-17 . COSPAR: F710217A. KH-4B. The launch vehicle had a very cold boattail due to a hose discovered to be leaking away warming air to the boattail. The boattail was colder than usual, below freezing. Based on earlier tests of the Thor for just that condition, as relayed by Ed Dierdorf, Thor chief engineer at the time, the temp low was of no concern.

The only problem was that those tests were made with a Thor that carried a Rocketdyne engine lubricated with "lube oil". The Thor being launched used a fuel additive, "Orinite" (like STP "super snot"). The technician that pumped the Orinite into its cannister later stated, "It wasn't for lack of orinite. I put it in just like the procedure said, and I could feel when it was full (with the hand pump). To make sure, I gave it another slug."

That "other slug" cracked the output valve that was only supposed to be cracked by turbopump output pressure. When it cracked the output valve a bit of the "honey" squirted down the tube toward engine bearing jets. This line had a low spot in it by design. The Orinite settled there. When it was chilled by the low temp air at lox loading, the Orinite formed a plug.

Unaware of this chain of circumstances, Launch Director Philip Payne made the decision to launch. The rocket (carrying Agena D and payload) flew for 18 seconds, then wiped out its gears, causing the turbine to overspeed and shed its vanes. These punctured various parts in the boattail like machine gun bullets. With loss of power, the rocket fell not far from the launch pad into Bear Creek canyon.

The final cause was therefore found to be loss of engine lubrication at startup.

Lageos - .
Payload: Lageos 1. Mass: 411 kg (906 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Class: Earth. Type: Geodetic satellite. Spacecraft: Lageos. USAF Sat Cat: 8820 . COSPAR: 1976-039A. Apogee: 5,947 km (3,695 mi). Perigee: 5,839 km (3,628 mi). Inclination: 109.9000 deg. Period: 225.50 min. LAGEOS (Laser Geodetic Satellite) was a very dense (high mass-to-area ratio) laser retroreflector satellite which provided a permanent reference point in a very stable orbit for such precision earth-dynamics measurements as crustal motions, regional strains, fault motions, polar motion and earth-rotation variations, solid earth tides, and other kinematic and dynamic parameters associated with earthquake assessment and alleviation. The performance in orbit of LAGEOS was limited only by degradation of the retroreflectors, so many decades of useful life can be expected. The high mass-to-area ratio and the precise, stable (attitude-independent) geometry of the spacecraft, together with the orbit, made this satellite the most precise position reference available. Because it is visible in all parts of the world and has an extended operation life in orbit, LAGEOS can serve as a fundamental standard for decades. Additional Details: here....

ISEE 3 - .
Payload: ISEE C. Mass: 479 kg (1,056 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere satellite. Spacecraft: ISEE. USAF Sat Cat: 11004 . COSPAR: 1978-079A. Apogee: 1,089,200 km (676,700 mi). Perigee: 181 km (112 mi). Inclination: 1.0000 deg. Period: 67,852.90 min. International Sun-Earth Explorer; later renamed the International Cometary Explorer. Measured interaction between solar wind and Earth; rendezvoused with comet Giacobini-Zinner September 11, 1985. After several passes through the Earth's magnetotail, with gravity assists from lunar flybys in March, April, September and October of 1983, a final close lunar flyby (119.4 km above the moon's surface) on December 22, 1983, ejected the spacecraft out of the Earth-Moon system and into a heliocentric orbit ahead of the Earth, on a trajectory intercepting that of Comet Giacobini-Zinner. A total of fifteen propulsive maneuvers (four of which were planned) and five lunar flybys were needed to carry out the transfer from the halo orbit to an escape trajectory from the earth-moon system into a heliocentric orbit. The primary scientific objective of ICE was to study the interaction between the solar wind and a cometary atmosphere. As planned, the spacecraft traversed the plasma tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner on September 11, 1985, and made in situ measurements of particles, fields, and waves. It also transited between the Sun and Comet Halley in late March 1986, when other spacecraft (Giotto, Planet-A, MS-T5, VEGA) were also in the vicinity of Comet Halley on their comet rendezvous missions. ICE became the first spacecraft to directly investigate two comets. An update to the ICE mission was approved by NASA headquarters in 1991. It defined a Heliospheric mission for ICE consisting of investigations of coronal mass ejections in coordination with ground-based observations, continued cosmic ray studies, and special period observations such as when ICE and Ulysses are on the same solar radial line. As of January 1990, ICE was in a 355 day heliocentric orbit with an aphelion of 1.03 AU, a perihelion of 0.93 AU and an inclination of 0.1 degree. This will bring it back to the vicinity of the earth-moon system in August, 2014. Termination of operations of ISEE 3 was authorized May 5, 1997. Additional Details: here....

SCATHA - .
Payload: P 78-2. Mass: 360 kg (790 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Class: Technology. Type: Communications technology satellite. Spacecraft: SCATHA. Completed Operations Date: 1991-05-28 . USAF Sat Cat: 11256 . COSPAR: 1979-007A. Apogee: 42,860 km (26,630 mi). Perigee: 28,018 km (17,409 mi). Inclination: 10.2000 deg. Period: 1,418.40 min. Spacecraft charging experiments. The SCATHA spacecraft had two charged particle injection systems, one of which was the Satellite Positive-Ion-Beam System (SPIBS). This was a xenon ion source which included some of the technologies used in thrusters: however, the discharge chamber was not performance optimized as was done with ion engines. Maximum operating power was 0.045 kW, and the ion source could produce a thrust of about 0.14 mN at a specific impulse of 350 s. Ions could be ejected at 1 keV or 2 keV. Neutralization was accomplished by a tantalum filament. The specific impulse was low because there was no attempt to optimize the propellant efficiency. The SPIBS system was ground-tested for a period of 600 hours. The SCATHA spacecraft was placed in a near geosynchronous orbit. Ion beam operations were performed intermittently over a 247 day period. The SCATHA flight demonstrated that a charged spacecraft, and the dielectric surfaces on it, could be safely discharged by emitting a very low energy (<50 eV) neutral plasma -- in effect shorting the spacecraft to the ambient plasma before dangerous charging levels could be reached. As of 28 August 2001 located at 153.98 deg W drifting at 4.513 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 19.65W drifting at 4.513E degrees per day.

AMS 5 - .
Payload: DMSP 5D S-4. Mass: 513 kg (1,130 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Program: DMSP. Class: Earth. Type: Weather satellite. Spacecraft: DMSP Block 5D. Decay Date: 1980-07-14 . COSPAR: F800715A. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Although there was a press release immediately after the launch (by the spacecraft SPO) that said the 2nd stage motor exploded, in reality the problem was found to be due to poor design of the electrical connectors between the 2nd and third stages and a separation problem that ripped the wiring out of the spacecraft.

EUVE - .
Mass: 3,275 kg (7,220 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Class: Astronomy. Type: X-ray astronomy satellite. Spacecraft: EUVE. Decay Date: 2002-01-31 . USAF Sat Cat: 21987 . COSPAR: 1992-031A. Apogee: 524 km (325 mi). Perigee: 510 km (310 mi). Inclination: 28.4000 deg. Period: 95.00 min. Extreme Ultra-Violet Explorer; mapped galactic EUV sources. The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer was switched off on February 2, 2001. NASA decided to terminate funding for the mission, even though the spacecraft was still operating well. The sky survey was completed in January 1993 and after that the EUVE was used by guest astronomers for observations of specific targets. The final observations were made on January 26, 2001. After end-of-life tests of the never-used backup high voltage supplies and checking the remaining battery capacity, EUVE was stabilized pointing away from the Sun and sent into safehold at 2359 GMT on January 31. The transmitters were commanded off on February 2.

NEAR - .
Payload: Discovery 1. Mass: 818 kg (1,803 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Greenbelt. Program: Discovery. Class: Asteroids. Type: Asteroid probe. Spacecraft: NEAR. Decay Date: 2001-02-12 . USAF Sat Cat: 23784 . COSPAR: 1996-008A. Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first of NASA's Discovery missions, a series of small-scale spacecraft designed to proceed from development to flight in under three years for a cost of less than $150 million. The spacecraft's mission was to rendezvous with and achieve orbit around the asteroid Eros in January 1999, and study the asteroid for one year. However as it flew by the Earth on 23 January 1998, a problem caused an abort of the first encounter burn. The mission had to be rescoped for a later encounter but successfully entered orbit around Eros on Valentine's Day 2000 and ended the mission by gently landing on its surface on 12 February 2001.

Galaxy 10 - .
Mass: 3,876 kg (8,545 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: PanAmSat. Manufacturer: El Segundo. Program: Galaxy. Class: Communications. Type: Civilian communications satellite. Spacecraft: HS 601. COSPAR: F980827A. Built by Hughes/El Segundo for Panamsat. The satellite carried 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide US/Caribbean coverage, and was to have replaced the ageing SBS-5 satellite at 123 deg West. Replenishing the Galaxy/PAS constellation was a high priority for Panamsat following the loss of Galaxy 4 and problems with Galaxy 7. Galaxy 11 was not scheduled to go up until the first launch of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL in early 1999, and this booster was in limbo due to legal problems with unauthorised transfer of technical data from Boeing to Russia. In addition there were several PAS satellites awaiting launch over the next year on Proton and Ariane vehicles.

Mars Climate Orbiter - .
Mass: 629 kg (1,386 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL. Manufacturer: Martin. Program: Mars Surveyor. Class: Mars. Type: Mars probe. Spacecraft: MCO. Decay Date: 1999-09-23 . USAF Sat Cat: 25571 . COSPAR: 1998-073A. The Mars Climate Orbiter was the second flight of the Mars Surveyor Program. The probe was to enter a 160 km x 38600 km polar orbit around Mars on September 23,1999, and use aerobraking to reach a 373 km x 437 km x 92.9 degree sun-synchronous mapping orbit by November 23 1999. While the Mars Orbit Insertion burn began as planned on September 23, 1999 at 08:50 GMT, no signal was received after the spacecraft went behind the planet. Subsequent investigation showed that the spacecraft had plunged deep into the Martian atmosphere, with its closest approach to Mars being 57 km. It was concluded that the spacecraft burnt up in the atmosphere. It was later found that cutbacks in tracking, combined with incorrect values in a look-up table imbedded deep in the spacecraft software (use of pounds force instead of newtons) were to blame. This failure led to a shake-up of NASA's 'faster, better, cheaper' approach to unmanned spaceflight. Additional Details: here....

Mars Polar Lander - .
Mass: 576 kg (1,269 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL. Manufacturer: Martin. Class: Mars. Type: Mars probe. Spacecraft: Mars Polar Lander. Decay Date: 1999-12-03 . USAF Sat Cat: 25605 . COSPAR: 1999-001A. The Mars Polar Lander was placed by the first burn of the second stage into a 157 x 245 km x 28.35 deg parking orbit. The second stage restarted at 20:55 GMT and shut down in a 226 x 740 km x 25.8 deg Earth orbit. The solid rocket third stage (a Star 48B with a Nutation Control System and a yo-yo despin device) then ignited and put the spacecraft into solar orbit, separating at 21:02 GMT. Mars Polar Lander was to land near the south pole of Mars on December 3, 1999, and conduct conduct a three month mission, trenching near its landing site and testing for the presense of frozen water and carbon dioxide. Attached were two Deep Space 2 Microprobes, penetrators which would impact the Martian surface separately from the lander and return data on subsurface conditions from widely spaced points.

When the spacecraft reached Mars on December 3, the lander separated from the cruise stage at 19:51 UTC and the two penetrators, Scott and Amundsen, were to separate about 20 seconds later. No further communications were ever received from the spacecraft. Landing had been expected at 20:01 UTC at 76.1S 195.3W, with the penetrators landing a few kilometres from each other at 75.0S 196.5W.

This failure resulted in a review and reassessment of NASA's 'faster, better, cheaper' approach to planetary missions.

Stardust - .
Payload: Discovery 4. Mass: 370 kg (810 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL. Manufacturer: Martin. Program: Discovery. Class: Comet. Type: Comet probe. Spacecraft: Stardust. USAF Sat Cat: 25618 . COSPAR: 1999-003A. Stardust was to fly within 100 km of comet 81P/Wild-2 in January 2004 and recover cometary material using an aerogel substance. A return capsule would land on a lake bed in Utah in January 2006, returning the material to earth. The launch went as planned. The second stage ignited at 21:08 GMT and its first burn put the vehicle into a 185 km x 185 km x 28 degree parking orbit at 21:14 GMT. The second stage second burn at 21:25 changed the orbit to planned values of 178 km x 7184 km x 28.5 degrees. The Star 37FM solid third stage ignited at 21:29 GMT and placed the spacecraft into a 2 year period solar orbit. The spacecraft separated at 21:31 GMT. Meanwhile, the Delta 266 second stage burned a third time on its own, until its propellants were depleted, entering a final orbit of 294 km x 6818 km x 22.5 degrees. The Stardust probe flew past Earth at a distance of 3706 km at 1115 GMT on January 15, 2001, and flew near the Moon at a distance of 98000 km at around 0200 GMT on January 16. The gravity assist flyby changed Stardust's heliocentric orbit from 0.956 x 2.216 AU x 0.0 deg to 0.983 x 2.285 AU x 3.7 deg.